Macquarie Dictionary Blog

Do you know these 'mad as' phrases?

Jul 17, 2018

Do you know any of these infamous 'mad as' idiomatic phrases? We often use these colourful turns of phrase to brighten up our language and give more emphasis to what (or usually who) we're talking about. The fascinating thing about these is that while they all begin in the same way with 'mad as', depending on whether we use snakes, galahs or the old meat axe to compare, they all have slightly different meanings and levels of madness associated.

Tell us in the comments section what you think and if you use or have heard of a different 'mad as' phrase!

This phrase is modelled on the US slang as wicked as or as vicious as a meat axe.

Formerly this phrase used to be just mad as a snake. The phrase like a cut snake is used describe someone or something that is in a frenzy of activity.

If you call someone a flaming galah you are calling them a fool.

A two bob watch is a cheap and crappy watch, literally, one that only cost two bob.

This phrase comes from the time when hat-makers worked with mercury, mercury poisoning causing brain disorders.

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2 Comments

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Sue
- Aug. 1, 2018, 4:24 p.m.

I asked about the "mad as a meat axe" comment, as I often use it in fun, & wondered where it came from. I love colourful Aussie slang. Neither of my parents used slang & actually frowned on it, & as I went to a private girls' school, I certainly didn't pick it up in the playground! I hadn't heard of "mad as a two-bob watch" - the versions I knew were "slow as a two-bob watch" and silly as a two-bob watch".